Phantom Limb
:This article is about the fictional character. For the symdrome he is named after, see phantom limb Phantom Limb is a fictional villain on the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. He is a parody of articulate and "gentlemanly" supervillains, such as Ernst Stavro Blofeld of the James Bond books and films. He bears a strong visual resemblance to the Lee Falk comic strip hero The Phantom and his name is a reference to phantom limb syndrome. Personality and Relationships Phantom Limb, unlike most other characters on the show, is cool, cunning, and serious. He is clearly able to plan well-ahead and in the course of only a few episodes is revealed to be a dangerous man to tangle with, able to even deal with Brock Samson at his own level. Not only is he a threatening villain, he is a very high-ranking member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, able to access equipment reserved only for such members and the Guild's 'B' base actually being located in his home. Beyond that he is arrogant and pompous, almost to the point of theatrical drama, clearly overacting when confronting several Monarch henchmen and using far more extensive vocabulary than the situation demanded ("Hate Floats"). He is involved with Dr. Girlfriend, and it is revealed this is not the first time he was with her; once she was his 'Queen Etheria', simutaneously lover and sidekick to him and wearing a very revealing, transparent outfit. The Monarch seduced her away and he clearly never forgot it, being overjoyed to later win her back from his much more incompetent collegue. The relationship is rather tense: the Limb's tastes for gourmet foods and clothing and general attitude occasionally making her uneasy or annoyed. He despises the Monarch; and helped the Guild set him up during a trial ostensibly so they could capture an attorney working against the Guild but was clearly more happy in getting rid of his rival for Girlfriend's affections. There are few whom he would call his peers; among them are the otherwise unseen Animus and Manticlaws. Although he normally seems to consider Team Venture not worth his time, he ordered a guild strike team to attack the family on a "dare" from The Monarch. Character History Not much is known of Phantom Limb's early life, save that he was, in his own words, a 'goody-goody' super-scientist who invented such things as a muscle regenerator. A disastrous experiment led to his limbs becoming invisible and gaining newfound powers. This accident caused him to turn to supervillainy. In "Victor. Echo. November.", three different "origin stories" for Limb are related, two of which feature Master Billy Quizboy as his assistant, and all with the implication that the accident was responsible for Billy's missing hand as well. (Billy himself claims to have no memory of how his hand was lost.) His early villainous career is surprisingly rather questionable - at one point, he briefly mentions going back to driving a Honda Accord with a ghost on the hood. Even if he is a force to be reckoned with in the present day, his current level of villainy could still be questioned, as Dr. Girlfriend refers to him in anger as a glorified bookkeeper (at present, his "evil schemes" involve dealing in stolen paintings and doing the paperwork involved in enrolling other supervillains into the Guild). Dr. Girlfriend became Phantom Limb's lover and accomplice, going under the name "Queen Etheria." At some point, The Monarch seduced her and lured her away from her former partner. Phantom Limb first appeared in the series at Dr. Venture's tag sale, where he runs into Dr. Girlfriend while The Monarch is in the bathroom. He chides her for still being with "the butterfly" and asks her to rejoin him, to which she angrily rejects; stating she "has a good thing going on now". He is later shown to be a competent fighter after The Monarch starts a riot: since his arms and legs are invisible, he can easily strike others without warning. Phantom Limb then suddenly shot into the limelight, being responsible for The Monarch's imprisonment. After a fight with Dr. Girlfriend over revelations in a tell-all book, The Monarch threw her out; with nowhere else to go, she showed up at Phantom Limb's house. Hours later, the police responded to a disturbance call involving The Monarch drunkenly shouting outside the Limb's home and begging her to come back. Phantom Limb bribed the officer to 'disappear', and The Monarch was subsequently blamed for the officer's presumed murder. During the testimony of Dr. Orpheus, who probed The Monarch's memories for what truly happened, the Limb and Dr. Girlfriend threw off their disguises and flash-froze the courtroom. After Guild operatives abducted the prosecuting lawyer Tiny Attorney (a Guild enemy), the Limb took advantage of Orpheus' trance-like state to influence the necromancer into falsely proclaiming the Monarch guilty. Orpheus did so, and the framed Monarch was thrown into jail. He had a small but pivotal role in forcing The Monarch's fellow inmates to abandon him during an attempted escape, bribing or threatening various members into inaction. Despite Phantom Limb's efforts, King Gorilla helped The Monarch after learning that he wanted to win Dr. Girlfriend back. While Phantom Limb and Dr. Girlfriend were shopping at a mall, The Monarch cornered her in the food court and tried to convince her to return to him. Phantom Limb spotted them and angrily approached, causing The Monarch to tranquilize her in a panic and attempt to kidnap her; he clumsily dropped her while flying away. Mistakenly believing that The Monarch was successful in his abduction attempt, Phantom Limb nursed the wounded Brock back to health and misled him into thinking that The Monarch had kidnapped the Venture family. After proudly declaring that his home was "Location B" for the Guild, Phantom Limb allowed Brock to choose from his impressive array of weaponry and equipment and led him to The Monarch's cocoon for a rescue mission. Although the two seemed to be happily cooperating, Brock angered Phantom Limb by repeatedly questioning whether Dr. Girlfriend was truly female; after the mission was complete, he shot a tranquilizer dart into Brock's neck after the bodyguard had made one final wisecrack. Powers and Abilities The Phantom Limb's arms and legs are completely invisible (hence his name). In fact, his costume consists of a purple, short-sleeved, legless garment that exposes only his face; it is not clear how much of his body is actually visible. Although this ability has not been explained, he can perform some "killer-hand thing" (as Brock describes it) that incapacitates or kills others with a touch. The only visible sign of this effect is a flashing pattern which vaguely resembles blood vessels along his invisible arms. These "phantom limbs" and/or their strange powers are capable of deflecting projectiles. Direct physical contact is not necessary for Phantom Limb to kill with a touch - in "The Trial of the Monarch", grabbing the barrel of a security guard's gun (with a gloved hand, no less) caused the guard to die. Category:The Venture Bros. characters